Harold Wallace "Wally" Jaynes

H. Wallace Jaynes “Wally”

1935  -   2024

H. Wallace Jaynes, ‘Wally’ left this earthly world on the 2nd of May 2024. He waits for us in the company of God and many loved ones. A very good son, to Virginia and Kenneth Jaynes, brother to Kenneth Jaynes, a wonderful husband, a proud and loving dad to Kenny (deceased), Steve and Dean Jaynes and John Estrada. A grand dad, great granddad and a strong, true and forever friend. A man who loved and respected God and country. Best not forget a kind and loving friend of animals. Wally Jaynes, 88 years young, lived his life learning and doing what needed to be done and willingly facing whatever challenges life presented. A man of many interests, Wally loved working, diving, flying, reading and music; played guitar, bongos and keyboard. Wally started his early working career in the logging industry of Northern California, by the age of 19, he owned his own log hauling truck. He often worked two and sometimes three jobs while raising a family: his boys Kenny, Steve and Dean. Wally was a carpenter, a builder and soon a contractor. Living in the Laguna Beach area a major part of his life, he was naturally a water enthusiast and took up diving with his friends long before diving became such a popular sport. Diving led him into underwater construction and owning his own underwater construction company, Orca Divers in Laguna Beach. While working in that field he became an explosives expert and handled the explosives work required to build out the Dana Point Harbor and other projects along the So. California coast.

Strangely enough this led to Wally starting a career in photography. When underwater photos were needed for a 3-mile underwater pipeline job, he rented an underwater camera and successfully (with 15-minutes of instructions from the camera store owner) took the photos requested along with the doing the mechanical drawings he always provided for the job. (Wally’s mom, Virginia was a wonderful artist who worked for Walt Disney and Walter Lantz back in the day, and his brother Ken was a Military man who taught him mechanical drawing. ) From that experience Wally enrolled in So. Coast College to study photography, soon to open his own rental darkroom. The Darkroom soon became a Laguna Beach icon of some 35 years, darkroom, camera store, custom printing, studio, wedding and event photography, videography, postproduction etc.

Wally was a man of many interests and skills. He designed, drew the plans and built two homes for us and was a skilled furniture and cabinet maker.

At the age of 45 he met and soon married his wife Doris, then adding two teenage boys to his family. David and John Estrada became his boys, and they were blessed to have him as a father and friend.

Wally should have written a book. He had a great memory of his many adventures and could tell story after story.

Wally was a patriot at heart. Wally’s love of country was best expressed in his love of and 40 plus years as a volunteer with the Air Force Auxiliary, Civil Air Patrol. He loved the challenge of flying search and rescue missions, and among those missions his best moment was when finding a crash site with the plane crew alive and waiting for rescue (most ‘finds’ don’t have such happy endings). He finished his career with Civil Air Patrol as Lt. Colonel with many years as Safety Officer in both California and here in Hawaii.

Wally would say the best part of life was being a friend and helping others.  That is what really sums up his life. And of course, being the best husband and father ever. Love you, always and forever Wally.

A Celebration of his Life will be held on Thursday May 16, 2024 at St. Catherine’s Church with visitation beginning 8:30am, funeral mass beginning at 10:00am and burial to follow at St. Catherine’s Kealia Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to Kauai Hospice in memory of Wally Jaynes.

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